The courtroom is small, barely larger than the Hokage's office. The Council sits at an elevated table, already stacked with towering files, one for each accused Shinobi. The Hokage is in full regalia at the centre, Danzou on his right and Homura and Koharu on his left.

At another table set perpendicularly to the Council's table, the Jounin Commander Nara Shikane* is busy sorting through boxes upon boxes of files with a tired frown on his face.

For the accused there's a small 'X' on the floor to mark where they should stand and nothing more.

A guard closes the door against waiting room outside and the trial begins with an underwhelming attendance taking. Kakashi isn't the first; there are more serious crimes that vie for priority. But for all that he had been allowed to continue fighting on the front lines until the conclusion of the war - not out of consideration for Kakashi, hah! - discipline in the shinobi ranks is to be taken seriously.

Shikane reads out the charges in a monotone: culpable homicide of one Nohara Rin and wilful disobedience of superior's orders. Hovering behind Shikane, Sakumo suppresses a wince. The latter charge is all too familiar.

Standing at attention with his hands clasped behind his back, Kakashi remains silent. With his mask and slanted hitai-ate, there is barely an inch of his expression revealed and what there is is blank, his gaze fixed on the middle distance.

Before him, Rin stares back, her lips drawn thin with tension.

"Hatake Kakashi, how do you plead?"

Kakashi's throat works. He swallows, opens his mouth — and nothing comes out.

"Kakashi?" Hiruzen's tone is stern but sympathy softens the wrinkled corners of his eyes.

The silver-haired jounin's eye flickers shut, pain tensing the bruised skin under his lashes. "Guilty."

He looks guilty. Sounds like it too.

"No," Rin whispers. "No."

Sakumo would have despaired if not for the fact that he knew Minato had prepared a defense for Kakashi and submitted it to the Hokage beforehand. Clearly Kakashi has no intention of defending himself — he probably thinks he deserves whatever sentence they hand down.

They don't waste their time trying to get Kakashi to say anything more. Shikane plucks up a file, opening it with deft movements. The glossy photographs gleam under the pale lighting, showing black lines painted against greyed skin. Then there's the hole in her torso in grotesque detail. Then there's more bloodless skin and paled muscle and white bone and—

Grimacing faintly, Shikane sets the written report on top of the carefully documented photographs. "The autopsy revealed a high concentration of bijuu chakra in Nohara Rin's body. There were traces of foreign chakra centering about the chest cavity consistent with the use of the Forbidden Individual Curse Tag."

The Jounin Commander flips rapidly through the file once more before rising from his desk to set it before the Council. "It all appears to corroborate with Namikaze Minato's submissions."

It doesn't take more than a few minutes for the Council to finish deliberating. "Pardoned," Hiruzen declares, his voice ringing through the room authoritatively. "On the grounds of necessity." Rin smiles shakily and Kakashi hunches into himself, his eye trained on the floor. Behind his back, his clenched fists tighten until they are white-knuckled.

The charge of willful disobedience holds and Kakashi is suspended from missions for three months. Considering that the maximum penalty is execution, it's a mere slap on the wrist — mitigated what would have otherwise happened had Rin not died and Kakashi's exceptional service during the war.

"Anything else?"

The question is directed at Shikane but for the first time during the trial Kakashi speaks up and meets Hiruzen's gaze. "Will you put Rin's name on the cenotaph?" he asks hoarsely, a plea slipping through his words.

The old man's face softens into a kindly expression. "Of course."

Kakashi bows deeply in a jerky, mechanical fashion. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Barely fifteen minutes have passed when the guard escorts Kakashi out of the courtroom with brisk steps. The guard scowls at the small crowd of murmuring outside as Kakashi hurries away, his head down.

"Next!"

A/N: Please excuse my pseudo legal procedure. Let's just say the trial is really just a formality because the Hokage is basically a military dictator. A nice one (maybe).

* Shikaku should be around 22 at this time. That's too young to be Jounin Commander no matter how brainy he is, so this Nara is a older male relative of his.